She Wolf
by Trinity Archangel
Summary: Bella unintentionally pushes Jacob away, only for him to be accepted by a new student that is beyond even Edward's comprehension.
1. Only Human

Heads up: Never read any of the books. Only saw the two movies and I was mildly interested--poor Jacob can't seem to win. Don't get up my ass about inaccuracies. What I know, I know from bits and pieces of exposure. Thank you. Promise to finish this one.

Only Human

Forks, Washington is the logging capital of the world. A sleepy, uneventful town resisting summer warmth, and drab gray climate with a drab, gray Forks High School as the center for some of the more colorful characters in town. At present, two of the brilliant personas were enveloped in one another's arms in the student parking lot, much to the amusement of their passing audience. _Anything_ Edward Cullen did was worth the notice, though he and his company, the occasionally moody Bella Swan would much rather be as alone as they felt when they were together.

Bella had only ridden on the coat tails of the Cullen clan's popularity to an associative popularity of her own: Edward Cullen's—that mysterious, alluringly attractive recluse— girlfriend. And in some lesser known circles, the Cullen Clan's "pet." The last series of catcalls and whistling embarrassed her enough to pull herself away from the vampire's clutches, not without difficulty. She brushed her shoulder length brown hair behind her ears and looked away from him sheepishly, biting down on her bottom lip. Her sudden modesty amused him.

"Guess we'd better get to class," he mused, lifting her face to meet his. She never did feel the sting of his icy touch pressing into her warm flesh. She only felt _him._

"Yeah. I guess so." She submitted to his desire for a parting kiss—a pop kiss she hastily planted on him before turning abruptly to catch up to her classmates. She felt his hands dragging off of her as she turned. A touch that would stay with her until they met again.

"See you later in class," he called after her. She looked over her shoulder to reply to him only to stare with some surprise at the spot he was just in not a moment before. At this point, she didn't know why _anything _he did was still so amazing.

She was barely out of the student parking lot before a rustle in the bushes caught her attention. Her name came sailing out in a whisper from between the parted shrubs.

"Jacob," she greeted with a wry smile.

A pair of hands spread apart the bush to reveal a handsome Quileute boy with smiling dark eyes and a mischievous expression. He was always glad to be getting any attention from Bella, even if his enthusiasm was not always equally met. This meeting was no different.

"What are you doing hiding out in the bushes?" She darted her eyes about to see if anyone had noticed her talking to a shrub.

His winning smile did not fade. He shrugged. "I came to see you."

A quick smile gave away her flattery but it was replaced by the apathetic expression she so often wore.

"Shouldn't you be in school?"

"I'm gonna go. What are you doing tonight?"

What was she doing tonight? Her tentative plans were the same everyday. Mull around until something came up, and if that something was Edward, it took precedence. The Cullen Clan took precedence. Jacob was in a tie for last place with everything else in her life. Admittedly, it was awkward playing switch- hitter between Vampire and Werewolf. And in another world, where Jacob wasn't a sworn enemy of her boyfriend, a few years older and Edward never existed, there would be no stopping them. She liked to play up those differences in her mind to keep her interest in him at bay. If only he hadn't have changed so much over the summer. She averted her attention and hugged her arms around her body.

"You know you didn't answer me…" Jacob reminded gently.

She fumbled for words. "Oh, um. Edward and I—"

His features morphed into immediate disappointment before she finished her statement. "Figures. You know we _are_ still friends?"

"Yeah…"

"We should work on it a little more."

She felt a flush of red tinting her face. "I—I gotta go. I'll talk to you later." With that, she did an abrupt about face and hurried off to class to beat the last bell, pretending not to notice how Jacob's pitiable stare was burning into her back. She hated having to choose. But it would always be Edward.

And it would never be Jacob. Defeated, he backtracked the way he had come until he decided to detour through the forest and back onto Quileute territory on a whim. Naturally athletic, and suddenly "huge" from his devotion to weight lifting over the last summer, he shimmied up a steep incline and hoisted himself onto a cliff side boulder over-looking the beach where he had vaguely explained to Bella the war between his clan and the Cullens. No one had skipped school to surf its chilly waters and so, with his legs dangling limply off the side, he was alone to lick his wounds of rejection.

An unusual scent drifted up to him, carried by the wind ripping from the shoreline. It smelled like cherry blossoms. Too much like cherry blossoms, he decided, and made his way back down from where he came and easily followed the aroma to a small waterfall he would easily have missed just in passing, enclosed by plethora of trees and a sharp dip south into the cavernous arches of semi-formed cave. There, standing directly under the small stream of water was a girl about high school age, shamelessly washing her hair with her back turned to him, puffs of air vanishing in mists from her lips. She was understandably cold, and Jacob was understandably shocked.

He started to turn away without making himself known when he did a double take. She was wearing a yellow bikini top, tied in little knots in the back, and a pair of ripped boy shorts, barely covering her slender legs. He didn't look back because she was attractive, although she was, but he couldn't decide if he should know her or not. Was she Quileute? Her dark skin and raven hair tumbling about gave him that impression, but even so he would have known her. She was in admirable shape, well toned but indisputably feminine, and as Jacob was suddenly aware, appealing beyond logic. He continued to watch, mouth slightly ajar, taken with the mysterious girl washing her hair under a hidden waterfall. He felt invisible and inappropriate, the latter feeling for the moment overshadowed by his sudden interest in this stranger.

And she, no longer feeling alone, turned slightly and scanned the landscape for the pair of eyes she knew was out there, joining her in her clandestine bath. Jacob froze, hoping to blend in with his surroundings, although his jeans and blue long-sleeved shirt offered little camouflage. He held his breath when she glanced right over him, but as fate would have it, his boots betrayed him and he went sliding off the mossy precipice and into plain sight on his bottom, ten yards from the bathing beauty. She made little attempt to shield herself, nor did she seem disturbed by his intrusion.

He scrambled to his feet and stared back at her as if he was awaiting her discipline but she only greeted him pleasantly.

"Hello, Jacob Black."

He didn't seem to realize she knew his name when he went stammering though a pardon. "I wasn't spying or anything," he defended, pointing toward the precipice he'd just descended from, "But I was just taking a walk, when…Do I know you?" He quizzed, daring to venture closer to her.

She smiled warmly, a gesture that drew him even nearer. Even her eyes smiled.

"How do you know my name?"

She offered another smile, responding vaguely. "I know a friend of yours."

He stopped short and watched unabashed with his hands jammed into his pockets as she rinsed the rest of the shampoo from her hair.

"Who?"

"I'm kinda new around here. But I just started attending Forks High."

Jacob brightened up immediately. Bella must have mentioned him, if only in passing.

She offered him her hand. "Yuri," she introduced, apologizing for her wet hands. He dried it off by jamming it into his pockets again.

"Yuri…" he repeated softly, trying his best not to sponge in any more of her. It was an awkward and slightly inappropriate meeting, but he couldn't very well scamper up the incline again without looking like an immature peeping tom.

"Why are you washing your hair outside?" He gestured toward a shampoo bottle poised on a rock next to an oversized towel and a pair of slippers.

She replied as if the answer was obvious. "Where else?"

Jacob shrugged his bold shoulders. "I dunno. Like, the bathroom in your _house._ Where do you live anyway?"

She made a dismissive gesture toward a general direction that didn't offer much.

Stalemate. He had run out of conversation and places to avert his attention.

"Soooooo…I guess I'll see you around…" He parted, throwing up a limp hand to wave.

She nodded, watching him head back toward the incline.

"See you later, Jacob Black."

He gave her a nervous grin before making his exit. Now it was _his _turn to feel her eyes pressing into him until his was out of sight. It was most as if she could touch him from a distance.

* * *

Bella tried to mask her discomfort with having a newcomer joining her lunch table, but she was hardly given the attention of a fly on the wall with her friends fluttering around the attractive new student, male and female alike, being absorbed by the charm she so effortlessly seemed to radiate. Yuri batted off questions with simple retorts, smoothed over obscure transactions with an infectious smile all the while seeming in her own subtle way to be bored with the attention. Bella hated to admit that the prick of jealously had made her aware that she missed the attention she at one point pretended not to notice. Mostly, she wondered if Edward would be as enveloped in this Yuri as her friends seemed. She rolled her eyes, unaware that while Yuri kept everyone's attention, she kept Yuri's.

"Hungry?" Eric cooed, offering over his untouched bag lunch to Yuri, oblivious to how his obvert attraction came across. She glanced down at crumpled brown paper bag and a flicker of disgust took her, but she respectfully declined.

A little disgusted herself, Bella took up her books and left without pardon or notice. Edward would be waiting by his car in the student parking lot for her anyway. It wasn't often that she delayed meeting with him to work out a plan with her _other_ friends, but see if she tried that again, the way they were acting.

She found him leaning faithfully against his car, his ashen features poking out just barely from underneath a hoodie to shield him from a glimmer of sunlight struggling through the clouds. It had been a little sunny these past few days, excusing the Cullen Clan from school on "family business." He met her eyes from across the lot and her lips shortly after, holding open the car door for her, forever the unfaltering gentleman. He picked up on her distracted behavior immediately and blocked her from getting into the car with his arm.

"What's the matter, Bella?"

She shrugged, trying to bypass his blockade but he held firm and hooked her elbow gently.

"Tell me."

She huffed. Part of her wanted to sic Edward on the stranger to dull her preconceived notions that she was too engaging to be human, and yet, part of her didn't want to risk making Edward aware of her.

She fought with herself only a moment. "I dunno." She glanced over her shoulder at the small cluster of moths, fluttering around Yuri. "You know that new girl, Yuri?"

Edward broke his attention from Bella to steal a glance at the center of attention but a firm smack brought it back to her.

"Don't stare!" She scolded. "I mean, don't make it obvious."

Edward didn't seem impressed. "What about her?"

"I just wanna know…is she…I dunno…like _you?"_

Edward risked another smack but looked back over at her for a tense moment. A scowl worked its way across his face slowly.

"It just doesn't make any sense why everyone is so attracted to her like that." She was talking into his chest, refusing to look back at her.

A second later, she was comforted by his reply. "Only human," he affirmed.

Her next question was more pointed. "Do you think she's attractive?"

Edward balked, unaware of her jealous tendencies. It amused him. Be bent and kissed her forehead reassuringly, lingering.

"I love _you,_ Bella." He reaffirmed. "You're my own soul."

His statement brightened her up considerably, and she ducked into the car, satisfied that despite Yuri's sudden popularity, she was _only human._


	2. Secrets

Author TA: Is anyone alive out there? Sorry if i still have some editing notes, i'm tired of reading this story myself. Reviews appreciated. New to Twilight World, feeling way about in dark. Long chap, but necessary. Thanks

After Edward assured Bella that the new girl was human, it seemed to melt the wall she had put up between them and gradually, a difficult acquaintanceship had formed before she knew it. Yuri was attractive because she was chic, kind, intelligent, and admittedly sweet. Sweet in a disgusting kind of way that made Bella one of the few immune to her charms, the others being the Cullen Clan too enthralled in one another and amusing their own fan base to care, and Edward, who couldn't tear his heart or his eyes away from Bella in this life or the next. The Cullen Clan sans Jasper, who had to be sent home promptly after falling into an unexplainable fit when a classmate got cut from an exploded beaker in chemistry class.

As the weeks went by, Yuri became just another face in the crowd when novelty wore off, and Bella found herself opening up to the possibility of befriending the still strange newcomer known only as Yuri, from Harbor City, California, the tan-skinned and statuesque literature enthusiast—as long as their relationship did not extended outside of Forks High. Once again, it was far too sunny out to allow Edward to venture into daylight hours so she resorted to the friends she had neglected, and accompanied them to La Push to silently cheer on those who ventured to surf.

As usual, she had disassociated herself from the goings on, her mind constantly adrift the sea that was Edward Cullen, so very enthralled in his simply handsome and quiet demeanor and his even more attractive vampyric qualities. She found herself aimlessly drifting up the beach, trailing the shoreline. Before long, she was barely in earshot of her company.

A playful howl caught her attention, and as she looked up to see a barefoot Jacob carrying his shoes in hand, his pant legs rolled up to his knees, walking toward her with his pack of wolf brethren romping just behind him, he howled again. She smiled despite herself. Three of them darted past her with a brief greeting, chasing one another up the beach. The alpha leader Sam gave her a subtle nod before venturing off. Jacob spread his arms long before he was within hug-reach, and she walked into them limply, denying how good his embrace felt. He was always so warm.

"How's life apart from me?" He asked.

"It's senior year. I've been busy."

Jacob nodded in understanding. "You busy now?" He knew the answer to that question.

She hesitated. "No…"

He spun her around and draped an arm over her shoulder. "Take a walk with me." He insisted, winning her over with his smiling eyes. She went along with him, trying to nonchalantly slither out from under his arm.

"You look so totally lost when you're alone, you know." He observed out loud.

(transition here need more)

"Yeah?"

"So there's something I gotta ask you."

Bella sighed, prepared to let him down easy.

Jacob grinned boyishly. "Why are you always so ready to brush me off?"

She smiled. "I dunno. You just make me nervous, I guess." She bit down on her lip, ruing the fact that her mouth lacked sensors. Her face flushed red immediately, wishing she could take back the last four seconds. Jacob stopped walking while she carried on.

"I make you nervous?" He called after her, amused. "You? The unconquerable Bella?"

He ran to catch up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder to slow her escape.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I'm just giving you a hard time."

She wouldn't meet his eyes. "I know."

They stood toe to toe ill at ease in silence as though they were strangers. Their proximity made her reminisce the near misses of their lips in a lifetime past. She tensed up when he dared to take another step closer. She backed up a half step and found a spot between her feet to occupy her attention. She felt his masculine hands ease up her arms gently, lovingly, tenderly in a gesture she wished was coming from Edward.

"Just one date. Not even a _date_ date…just a time on your calendar for me for a few hours."

She brushed off his hands in a huff and started to shake her head furiously. He'd never know how difficult he made things for her. His eyes were pleading.

"As friends," he stressed. "We could see a movie…or something equally as public."

A wry smile followed. She was about to reject his advances again when another person joined them unexpectedly.

"Hey guys," the voice chirped. Jacob looked over her shoulder in a daze when Yuri came strolling out from behind her; she hadn't even heard her coming up the beach. She was relieved for the interruption but wished it came from anyone else. She managed to forge a quick smile and a half-hearted wave. Jacob's jaw loosened again but he didn't reply.

"Hi, Jacob Black."

Bella hoped she hid her surprise well. How far did the blast radius of her popularity extend? She knew Jacob too? Jacob's slack jawed stupor didn't make her feel any better. In fact, she suddenly felt invisible.

"W-what are you doing here?" He asked, unconsciously distancing herself from Bella. It didn't escape Bella's notice that Jacob's posture suddenly improved and his already impressive chest was puffed up as far as it would go.

"Taking a walk. Is that ok?"

Jacob bobbed his head up and down stupidly. "Alone?"

"Yah." She turned her attention to Bella. "What's up?"

"Nothing," she responded flatly. "Don't you live, like, really far away from here?" Her question came out tart and laced with bitterness. In fact, Bella had no clue where she lived but it was all she could do to inject herself back into Jacob's attention.

Yuri's sunny disposition did not falter. "Not really."

The three of them fell into the reoccurring silence that seemed to make more and more appearances lately. Jacob swallowed hard.

Yuri broke the silence first. "So Jacob…if you ever wanna show me around…I'll be available…so…" She trailed off uncomfortably, hoping that he would say something quickly so she wouldn't bask in her shame for too much longer. Indirectly asking Jacob out in front of Bella was like dry swallowing a pill.

"You should come too, Bella," she invited quickly, trying to dumb down the situation. Jacob was the only one who replied, managing to close his mouth long enough to open it again.

"Okay…"

Yuri nodded, pleased. "Okay, then…" She excused herself and carried on down the beach, her raven hair flagging behind her and leaving them in the wake of her intoxicating perfume. The dispersed wolf pack reassembled behind her, offering without luck to escort her on her journey.

As soon as she was out of earshot, an emotionally disarrayed Bella gave Jacob the response he'd been praying about.

"Yes."

He snapped his head around to look at her, as if her response had broken the trance he was in. "What?"

"Yes," she said again, between a lengthy sigh. "Friday."

Jacob's eyes lit up again. "Friday?"

What had she just done? Her response was hasty and fuelled by competition. What did it matter if Yuri asked out Jacob in front of her? Once again her mouth was moving faster than her mind could think. And her heart was absent the whole time. She couldn't hurt him by taking it back now.

Jacob pumped his fist victoriously. "All right! I'll see you Friday?" He asked, backing up the beach to catch up with the rest of the pack. Bella nodded.

"Five o'clock, in front of the theatre?"

She nodded again.

He did a one handed cartwheel to amuse her, but succeeded more so in amusing himself, and his contagious spirits caught on to the rest of the pack, joining him in hand springs and tumbling up the beach like a pack of romping puppies.

"As friends!" She hollered after him, but her voice carried with the wind and fell upon deaf ears.

_______

Friday came so quickly, but regret stayed with Bella all week. It only magnified on Friday morning when she got up to discover that Charlie was going on weekend fishing trip, so using him as an excuse was out of the question. When she got in her truck to go to school, it came on for only a moment before stalling out, insult adding to injury when she discovered she'd neglected to put gas in it the night before. And she couldn't very well find herself with the Cullens, not with Jasper behaving the way he had been lately.

Declining rides from friends, she started off toward the long and lonely road home, dense with fog, feeling sorry for herself and even more sorry for Jacob. An affectionate arm snaked over her shoulders and drew her near the awaiting lips of her condemned and seemingly ever present boyfriend. He pressed them into her face, feeling her eye lashes bat teasing against his own skin. She leaned against him encouragingly.

He slid his hand into her own and linked fingers with her. "Why do you insist on roaming alone?"

She shrugged, allowing him to slip off her backpack and carry it himself. "Because I know I'm never truly alone."

He nodded in agreement. "Your dad's out of town, right?"

"Right," she affirmed. "Fishing trip for the weekend."

A mischievous smile took him. "Then you're not expected home." He stepped in front of her and bent at the waist to allow her to hop onto his back. "Come with me."

She hesitated, although she was eager to clamor on. "We can't. Someone will see us."

"I thought you were a risk taker?" He wrapped his arm around her waist and drew her in securely, and she in turn wrapped her arms around his neck in preparation for the take off. He launched off the road and into a thicket of trees, and the two of them streamed across the landscape with her echoing laughter the only evidence of their passing.

Bella Swan _loved_ Edward Cullen. Inexplicably, irrevocably, irrepressibly so. The life he could give her teetered just out of reach. She was certain she could love him forever and even if she could fly through the trees on her own one day, she would always do it in his company, with her hair whipping against his face, and the promise of forever sealing them together if only he would do this one _simple_ thing for her.

They found themselves in a clearing, out of breath and tangled in one another's arms, the rays of the peeking sun reflecting off his skin like diamonds, and she, with her eyes mashed shut, imagining this was one of many endless days.

_____

Five o'clock came and went. Jacob's eagerness had him arrive fifteen minutes early, mulling about the theatre in anticipation but when it was after six, his expression morphed into defeat again. Bella had stood him up. And for the first time, he was angry with her. He sat slumped against the wall, unsure if he should go home and risk missing her least she show up late with a premeditated excuse, or if he should put himself out of his misery and call it a night. Hope sprang eternal. He continued to wait with his arms folded neatly across his chest, mood soured, confident that the bloody vampire had something to do with her absence.

He had finished off a smoothie, chewed up the straw and watched the same couples entering the theatre leave before he decided to throw in the towel. But he was too depressed to get up from his position holding up the wall. Fate or coincidence, to his shame, someone called out to him. Only one person called him by his first and last name, and that was Yuri. As attracted as he was to her, he really didn't feel like talking to anyone at the moment. But she sauntered up in a boyfriend jacket and colourful scarf double wrapped around her neck, unwavering smile plastering her face.

"Hi, Jacob."

He shot up a hand and pulled out the mangled straw from between his lips.

"Hey," he greeted flatly.

"Just saw a movie?" She quizzed.

She shook his head somberly. "No. I kinda got stood up."

She seemed surprised. "Really? I guess it can happen to anyone." She shrugged, sensing his lack of interest in conversation. She decided not to push him to talk. She doubted he'd be interested in the movie she just saw.

"I'll leave you alone, then." She started on her way again but he pushed off from the wall and touched her arm lightly for attention.

"Hey, are you alone?" He hoped he didn't seem creepy asking her that. It was, after all, the second time this week he'd asked. He recovered by furthering his intent. "You wouldn't want to hang out for a while, would you?"

Her face brightened. "Sure."

Jacob felt his muscles relax. He didn't even realize his nerves had him cramping up just to ask her to hang out.

"Hungry?" He offered, shoving his hands back into his pockets.

She declined politely. "Nah. Let's just see where the wind takes us."

The sun was setting before Jacob realized that he'd spent several enchanting hours enamored with Yuri. His hands were in his jeans most of the night to hide his fumbling gestures, but every time his shoulder brushed up against hers he felt his inhibitions shedding a little more each time. Yuri seemed to hang on to every word he said, and had a way of laughing at his lame jokes that appeared genuine. She was equally taken with Jacob as well; his sincerity was charming. It was to her fortune that he'd gotten stood up.

They found themselves touring the land Jacob was so familiar with, weaving through the trees and over stumps as though it were a marked road, the rustle of leaves beneath their feet the only ambiance.

"You can do this with your eyes closed, huh?" She asked, ducking under a low laying branch he held back for her. His eyes followed her as she passed, shuddering to shed his infatuation.

"Pretty much. I'm good with navigating the land. In my blood, I guess." He dismissed the simple truth with a gentle shrug. "Anything you really good at?"

She nodded, encircling a wide tree trunk with her arms and swinging around it playfully.

"I'm kinda fast. I used to run track at my old school."

"Yeah?" Jacob said, challengingly. "Bet I'm faster." In fact, he _knew_ he was faster. But he would humor her anyway.

She accepted his challenge in parting. "Race you," she dared over her shoulder. Jacob took off after her and closed the gap in a heartbeat despite her sudden head start, but to his surprise she _was _fast, and she distanced herself again in a blink, blurring past the trees like the wind as if she knew where the finish line was. Jacob was in hot pursuit, reaching out a hand to brush against her so she would know she was within arms reach. She slowed up a hair and tagged the nearest tree as if she'd won the race just as Jacob whisked by.

"You are fast," he complimented, although he knew he'd let her win. Out of breath, she managed a smile between huffing.

"I'm tired," she admitted, sliding down the trunk of the tree she was resting on. Jacob leapt to her side to soften her plummet by taking a hold of the hand she offered him, and lowered her to the foliage gently. He hadn't realized he was still holding onto her hand when she sat.

"You're hot," she observed.

"You too," he cooed absently, unwittingly returning an unintentional compliment.

"Do you have a fever?"

Jacob felt his face flush with embarrassment when he realized she was referring to his temperature. He dropped her hand and sheltered his in his pockets again. He would ruin both pockets before the night was over.

"So, how old are you?" He asked, leaning up against a tree across from hers.

"Same as you." Another vague response. Jacob rolled his eyes.

"Are you always so specific?"

She smiled, hugging her knees. "Seventeen."

Seventeen. What was with him and older women? "Well," he said. "We're kinda _not_ the same age. You're a little older…" He admitted, half expecting her to be repulsed by this sudden revelation.

"It shouldn't matter."

"It doesn't!" He said quickly, too quickly. "Not to me, at least."

He dared to leave his post at the tree and sit by her. "Anything else I should know, track star?"

She beamed at him. "Nothing worth telling. Listen, I had a really great time with you. I'm kinda glad you got stood up." (Would she say this or this? Consider edit)

Oh, yeah. He got stood up by Bella. It somehow managed to escape his concern until this very moment when she brought it up again. The disappointment rose in his chest like heartburn before it passed again in a wave. In all honestly, he was kind of glad he got stood up too.

"Me too," he admitted, nudging her gently with his elbow. She smiled shyly, pretending not to notice the way he was leaning into her and practically breathing down her neck. If she only turned her face she'd be nose to nose with him in a more intimate distance she was not comfortable with. And Jacob delayed righting himself, hoping that he would entrap her with his silent charm and force her to turn into his arms and meet him as he so desired. There was something so damned appealing about her. When he realized he couldn't return the favor, he scooted away. (clear this up)

"What about you?" She asked. "Anything _I_ should know about _you_?"

Yes. He had barely parted his lips to respond when a rustle of leaves stole their attention, and a very frantic Sam appeared shirtless, cut off blue jean shorts and heaving chest. He darted his eyes back and forth between Jacob and his company.

Jacob jolted to his feet to greet him, as if he'd just remembered he had an obligation. In fact, Sam's interruption seemed to snap him out of a trance he had not realized he was in. The forest was a dulling hue of blue gray with the rapidly descending sun. Sam seemed impatient.

"Yuri…I'm so sorry. I-I have to go."

"What?" She helped herself up, perplexed. By the time she made it to her feet wolves were baying softly in the distance.

"Are those wolves?" She asked, alarmed.

Jacob hated having to part so abruptly but duty beckoned. Sam ushered him along with his head and disappeared just as quickly as he'd appeared.

"You'll be ok if you go home right away…"

She grabbed his hand when he turned to leave but he slipped away from her grasp regretfully.

"Jacob…!"

"Can you get home ok?"

"Yeah, but—"

"I'm so sorry. Promise me you'll go home before sunset?" He didn't even wait her reply. Before long he was a dot in the distance, darting between the trees like a fox to catch up with Sam.

_____

Bella tore open her eyes as if she'd been forced out of her sleep by a nightmare, only to see a very awake Edward staring sweetly at her as he so often did when she fell asleep in his arms. She sat up abruptly and brushed her hair out of her face, glancing around the clearing as if she had been betrayed by time.

"Oh my God. What time is it?" She dove into her backpack and fished out her cell phone frantically.

"Oh no…It's eight o'clock. Jacob's gonna be so upset."

Edward sat up at the mention of the name, brows furrowed. "Jacob?"

She started to gather up her things in a rush. "I was supposed to meet him three hours ago…"

Always calm, Edward watched her zip up her jacket and sling her back pack on over her shoulder before he pressed her for information.

"For what?"

Bella shrugged. "Just…I dunno. He wanted to see a movie or something." She hated to put in the next request but she did anyway. "Look, could you take me to the theatre?"

Edward sprang up and brushed the grass off his rumpled clothes.

"I could take you home instead."

"No, please."

Edward tried to hide his displeasure with her sudden interest in meeting Jacob for a movie that should have been over hours ago. If he was still lingering in front of the theatre, which he doubted, he was more pathetic than he imagined.

"Bella, I doubt he's still there."

"Then I gotta get to his house and apologize. If you aren't going to take me, I can get there and back before it's too late."

She didn't wait for approval or disapproval but when he didn't volunteer to take her she didn't worry because she knew he'd always be but a breath away from her, even if he was not present. Edward watched her hurry out of the clearing without looking back, but he was not worried for her sudden concern with Jacob's feelings. There were creatures far darker than the night roaming about, and he could hear them baying homage to the rising moon.

_____

Yuri didn't make Jacob any promises. When he darted off so suddenly, it did nothing but pique her curiosity. And there was no way she couldn't catch up to him. She started off after him, barely catching a glimpse before he disappeared again, leaping great distances with simple grace and sticking each landing without losing his footing. How could he move so fluidly? She cleared a downed tree he had just passed a moment before and was astounded to find it brimming a short but unexpected drop which she tumbled down into and out of with a grumble on her feet. By the time she was up again Jacob was out of sight in the dimming light. The only thing she could trail was the heavy panting, which she did to edge of yet another drop, and when she looked down, she saw the most amazing thing she'd ever laid eyes on. Jacob was trailing just behind three(?) large, galloping wolves. Her eyes tore open when he leapt forward, tearing off his shirt and landing with a hard thump on the ground. The next instant he had transformed into a magnificent creature to complete the quartet, and the group of them hurried off as though they were hunting with intent.

Jacob Black, was a shape shifter, and now Yuri knew it.


	3. The Existences Around Us

"I'm sorry, Bella. But Jacob isn't in," Billy seemed to be intentionally blocking the door with his wheelchair, and shifting slightly when she leaned to steal a peek past him into the living room where she hoped she would see him sulking on the couch.

"Didn't you just meet with him tonight?" Billy asked suspiciously, eyeing up her tattered ensemble and grass stained jeans.

"Uh, yeah…" She couldn't think up a reason to be asking for him so soon. "I just…if you see him, could you tell him I came by?" She resolved.

"Of course. Bella, it's dark out. Could I offer you a ride home?"

She shook her head. "No thanks. I'll be fine."

The slither of light from inside faded slowly as he shut the door, bidding her good night, and she scrambled off the porch and grabbed her backpack from behind the plant she'd dumped it in before knocking on the door. She would understand if Jacob was avoiding her, but she hoped he wasn't.

With Jacob being out, and Edward most likely skirting the territory least he entice a war with his intrusion, Bella never felt so alone. But she wasn't.

Bella, Yuri decided, was by far the most enticing thing to stir up from Jacob's house in the past half-hour she was waiting for him to come home. What was she doing all the way out in Quileute country by herself at this hour? Bella could probably ask her the same thing. Yuri found herself walking in pace several yards behind her, contemplating the best method of approach. It was obvious that Bella didn't care too much for her, despite how alluring she seemed to be to everyone else.

Should she let her go, none the wiser to her presence, or run up to catch up to her and explain why she was lurking outside of Jacob's house like a maniac? Yuri wasn't much interested in talking to her. There were other attributes to Bella she was more attracted to, and it was difficult not to close up the gap between them. The way her earthy brown hair bounced behind her, and her satin smooth skin, pulsing lightly with a heart that only beat for Edward.

Speaking of Edward…

She paused, watching Bella slip out of sight and turned to peer over her shoulder at her company, a few yards behind her and greeted him formally the only way she knew how.

"Edward Cullen." A crooked smile trickled across her lips. He had been following her just as surely as she had been following Bella. Though he was still a great distance off, she knew it didn't mean much. When she turned her head to face forward, he was in front of her, glaring daringly at her through amber eyes, blazing through the darkness. He circled her cautiously, baring his teeth in disgust.

"You stink."

She held up her hands in surrender and shrugged her shoulders. "Only to a vampire."

Edward completed his circle and stopped in front of her again, uncertain with what to do with her. He was frustrated.

"Why can't I read your mind?" He growled demandingly.

"A blessing," she replied frankly, following him with her eyes.

Edward couldn't place her. She wasn't this, that _or_ the other. If he couldn't read her mind, then she wasn't human. She stunk like a werewolf, of that he was certain, but she was lacking the quality that was unmistakable and unexplainable, and whatever that was, she was lacking it.

"You _really _stink," he insulted.

She shrugged again, hands still up in surrender. "A curse."

Either way, Edward decided, he didn't want her around Bella.

"You stay away from Bella," he warned, backing away. He didn't want any trouble where he was. "And I'll stay away from you."

She blinked, and Edward was gone from before her as if he had never been there, and she lowered her hands to her sides again. Relief swept over her in a wave. Everyone had a secret.

Bella hung up the phone a third time. She hated playing phone tag and yet here she was playing it by herself _again_ with Jacob. She sat down with a sigh on the foot of her bed and flopped back into the comfort of her sheets. She hated herself for agreeing to go out with Jacob just because someone else had taken an interest in him, but she hated herself even more for standing him up. A rustle in the tree outside sprang her to attention.

"Jacob?" She called hopefully. Only when she looked outside, the darkness was looking in.

"No. Edward."

She spun around to face the voice quickly, startled. Edward was standing erectly with his hands clasped behind his back with a face that poorly hid his disappointment. Formerly anticipating her surprise, he was now a little taken aback that she was expecting Jacob, and what's worse, that she did not change her expression once she saw him. A flicker of jealously went through him. In his hands he held a small velvet box that he stuffed into his back pocket, coerced there from lack of encouragement.

"I'm sorry if I'm imposing…"

She turned away again. "Don't be ridiculous. I just thought that—"

"I was Jacob. Are you expecting him?"

No, she wasn't. Just hoping for him. "I'm afraid he's mad at me." She admitted. She didn't offer much else. "We _are_ friends. Despite everything."

Edward took a seat behind her, reaching up his hands to pull her hair over her shoulders. She arched her neck, a potentially dangerous gesture of invitation that did not go unnoticed. Edward darted his eyes away from her pulsing throat and allowed her hair to run smoothly through his fingers. He repeated the action.

"Is that why you went to La Push?"

She spun around again to face him, aghast. "You _followed_ me?"

Edward was not offering an apology. "Bella, if you insist on roaming alone, going where you go and knowing what you know…I'm obligated to protect you."

She jumped up from the bed and folded her arms across her chest, frustrated. "I can take care of myself. They're not gonna hurt me, you know."

He stood up slowly, not bothering to voice his objections and went to her. "Preserving you is preserving myself." She would never understand his abject devotion. He would never understand her continual fearlessness. Didn't she realize how fragile she was? How perishable and temporary the human condition?

Despite her sudden callousness toward him, he invited her into his arms and nestled his head in her hair. She wrapped her arms around him and linked her fingers in the small of his back.

"You wouldn't have to protect me, if you'd just turn me."

He held her tighter. "I can't do that."

"Yes you can, Edward."

"Your soul means too much to me."

She pulled away first. "You know I don't believe in condemning souls." She made mocking quotations in the air as she hissed out the last word.

Edward frowned. "You didn't believe in vampires and werewolves, either." He had a valid point she couldn't counter with cynicism.

"Why won't you just do it? It's my soul?"

"I have conditions," he returned, remembering the velvet box in his back pocket.

"I just don't want to lose you." She admitted, ferrying her eyes away. Like she was losing Jacob?

He placed a tender hand against her face and forced her to look up at him.

"You will _never_ lose me." She covered his hand with her own, savoring his touch.

"I just wish I could read your mind sometimes." He bent and kissed her lovingly, burning in his lust for her. She drew him in, deepening the kiss, tempting his threshold of control. Every instant with her was a war against himself. But he loved more than he lusted. It would be best if he just—

Left.

Bella opened her eyes and her lover was gone, the memory of their kiss lingering against her lips.

Jacob the wolf, slunk his tattered body across the clearing from the woods toward his front door, tail drooping between his legs and a lolling tongue dangling out of his mouth. By the time his front paws touched the porch they were hands again, and the tired young wolf eventually evolved upright and lost his canine features gradually so by the time he made it into his bedroom, he was a shirtless young man, dragging to his bed, and before his head hit the pillow, he was asleep.

The next morning, Bella was up early rummaging through her dad's shed for a gas canister. She didn't think a red plastic body with a yellow sprout would be so inconspicuous, but it managed to evade her for the better part of an hour, eating up the time she would have spent getting to La Push. The walk to the gas station was even longer, it seemed, but so was any begrudging activity. Another drab day in Forks; cloudy, cold, and with no promise of sunshine.

When Bella rounded up the bend to Jacob's, she was glad to see him sitting outside the red adjacent barn where they spent the greater part of the fall fixing up a pair of seemingly hopeless bikes, and igniting a relationship that was stuck in limbo somewhere between friend and better than friend but less than lover. He was on a large tree stump, one he had bragged cutting down and sanding to a smooth finish, hugging his knees and ignoring the football game going on just beside him. He was never without the wolf pack.

He saw her truck pulling up, but he didn't make an attempt to go to her. She owed him an apology, and he wanted one. Despite the airs of indifference he was putting on, he was a little glad to see her.

She closed her car door and made her way over to him, tail between her legs. "Hi Jake."

"Hi." He barely batted an eyelash when he carelessly replied.

"I'm really, _really_ sorry I didn't show last night..." She offerd.

Jacob nodded as though he understood, then he said, "Edward came up, I know." He could have tasted his own bitterness when he said that. He was immediately regretful.

She laughed nervously but didn't deny him, deciding to speed through the awkwardness of her apology. "I thought that maybe today you'd wanna go get the bikes and ride a little? I promise to do better this time."

What did her promises mean to him? To anyone?

He pretended to be suddenly immersed in the football game. He wanted to say yes, but he wanted her to feel the sting of rejection too. Without thinking, without turning his attention to her a second time, he said,

"If you see Yuri at school, tell her I'm sorry."

What did he just say? Did he even hear her invitation at all? Did he care? Yuri?

All at once she knew how it felt to loose Jacob's affections. Just like that. She missed it already. Her mouth opened to reply, but no words came out. Her cheeks reddened. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Jacob spoke.

"…Did you still want to go riding?" He asked from over his shoulder. He didn't sound hopeful, either. All she could respond with was, "No." A flat, disinterested, wavering, No.

She made haste to her truck, started it up and backed off the playing field and onto the road home. If she had checked her rearview mirror she would have seen him looking pitifully after her, already worried that he had severed what little they had left between them with his façade of indifference.

"Jacob says he's sorry," Bella Swan spat out in a rush, brushing shoulders with Yuri in an unintentionally aggressive way as she stormed past, hand in hand with her protector, Edward. Bella didn't expect to see Yuri until school on Monday, but yet there she was, the sudden bane of her existence, walking in the opposite direction of she and Edward, at of all places the Forks Promenade, without her usual entourage of admirers. It was like lava rolling out of her mouth when she delivered the message, but it was done.

The mildly hostile collision didn't slow Yuri's purposeless travel. This sudden admission from Bella was an invitation at best to visit Jacob and accept his apology. As Bella passed, her scent lagged behind, an enticing mix of anger, jealously, Pantene Pro V and Edward Cullen. When she turned to look at them strolling along, only Edward was glaring back at her, his amber eyes flaring a reminder of the warning that still existed.


	4. Coming Clean

"Good afternoon, Mr. Black. Is Jacob in?"

Billy blinked in surprise. Two things: One, this visitor was not Bella and two, she had greeted him with a respectful enthusiasm he had never received from the aforementioned. Bella was a nice girl, albeit moody and reserved, but this stranger was strangely…different.

"Who should I say is asking for him?" He was already wheeling away from the door to let her in before she'd answered. He heard his son's breathless voice answer from just behind him.

"Yuri."

He turned, eyes in a tennis match between Yuri and Jacob. "I was just stepping out," he started, working up an apology for his sudden departure.

"It's okay, dad," Jacob assured.

Billy nodded, winking at him. "I'll be back soon."

"Okay, dad."

"Unexpectedly soon. Without warning."

Jacob blushed. "O-kay, dad."

Billy winked at Yuri too before shutting the door closed behind him.

When he left, Jacob was still standing awkwardly between the living room and hallway, hoping that she'd speak to him first because he had no clue how to begin his apology.

"I got your message, and I accept your apology."

And so was the ice -breaker.

The two of them carried on in conversation laced with musical interest, weekend plans, growing up in vastly different cultures—one in California and one very different world in a Quileute Reservation in Forks. All of it was mindless banter. And showing her how to whittle on the fly was the only thing he could think of to impress her besides, of course, turning. Admittedly it was not very exciting, but they eventually found themselves on the floor in his bedroom listening to music neither of them were paying very much attention to. Jacob was practically eating her alive with his eyes as she sat next to him, hugging her knees to her chest and darting her eyes away every time they made contact for longer than half a second. Silence eventually befell them, and Jacob dared to sit just a little closer to her, hoping that his nerves would not betray him. Soon, his elbow and her elbow, were touching. A glimmer of hope. He leaned toward her slowly, ignoring the fact that she was not even looking at him. She would have to face him eventually.

"Would it be really inappropriate," he started, closing up the gap, "If I kissed you right now?" He had already puckered and turned in for the kiss when she leaned away.

"Yes."

Wow. Another rejection. Shame is a heavy hitter. He retreated back into himself like a shriveling leaf, dragging his hands through his hair. Unbelievable.

He scoffed, daring to ask for answers. "I don't get it. I thought you liked me?" A thought suddenly occurred to him. "Too soon?" He asked frantically, ready to apologize.

Yuri laughed softly and patted his knee. He took her hand in his own, still willing to flirt fully play with her fingers.

"I'm not sure you're gonna like me very much after this."

Jacob perked a brow. "After what?"

Yuri took back her hand slowly, sucked in a deep breath. She turned to face him finally. "I saw you."

Once again, Yuri did not elaborate. Jacob's face morphed through phases of confusion. What did that mean? Under what circumstance?

"You….saw me?"

She nodded. "Yesterday. After you left I followed you. And I saw you turn into a wolf."

Jacob's brows nearly went flying off of his face. But he was armed with a plethora of denial.

"You saw _me_ turning into a wolf?" He replied skeptically.

"Yeah. You were with four others."

"Yuri, that's crazy."

Yuri didn't seem to appreciate his denial. "Come on, Jacob. I know what I saw and I saw _you_ tearing through the woods like an animal, and then turning into one."

Jacob dismissed her with a flick of his wrist. "People don't turn into wolves. That just doesn't happen."

"_You_ do. You and the rest of your tribal pack."

Jacob was taken aback. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

She didn't answer him. He stood up in a huff and stepped over her to shut off the stereo.

"Look, if I say I'm a werewolf will you drop it? It's a stupid conversation to be having."

Yuri dipped her head, dissatisfied, a slow sigh hissing out of her. Getting under his skin, or fur, was a start. She rose to match him.

"Jacob Black. You are a werewolf." She had said it more to persuade him than anything else.

He narrowed his brows at her, glancing down at the finger he suddenly didn't appreciate jabbing into him.

"And Edward Cullen is a vampire."

What? How could she have known that? Did Bella say something to her?

"No one is going to believe you."

Yuri's brows rose in question. "I haven't come to convince anyone other than you."

That was it. Jacob had had enough. He marched over to the door and held it open for her. "I think you'd better go."

She didn't make a move for the door. "What's the matter?" She offered him an insincere half smile that coursed through his body like a poison. He felt his grip tightening on the doorknob. She was as sinister as she was beautiful; an attraction he hated for still being there.

"You're getting me upset. And I really don't want to hurt you," he growled. He had nearly given himself away in the delivery.

She persisted. "I already know what you are. Could you make me be like you? A werewolf?"

"Get out…" His eyes flashed briefly, but he looked away from her.

Her insistence was ludicrous. _Turn her into a werewolf._ You don't get turned into a werewolf. If he had a choice he wouldn't have had this burden thrust upon him. He couldn't turn _anyone _into a werewolf. It didn't work like _them_. Not like a vampire.

"I know what you are, Jacob Black and I so desperately need you to show me again."

When he turned to face her a second time, his eyes were dark, and his lips were curled back over a vicious and snarling maw. The Jacob she knew was disappearing in a flash. She was both exhilarated and frightened at his coming transformation.

"GET OUT!" He very nearly literally barked, reaching out a furry pair of hands and sinking his fingers into her arms. She winced momentarily at the pain, but when he tried to swing her toward the door he was stunned that she was able to resist him, and even more so surprised to see his own hallow eyes and pointed teeth baring back at him. She placed a precise hand into his chest and sent him flying back against the wall. He stumbled back, reversing into Jacob just as smoothly as he been turning wolf, and gawked at her.

Yuri was stuck somewhere between wolf and the hauntingly alluring, resoundingly exotic beauty that enchanted him, even now, although he did not know it yet.

Jacob was babbling. "W-what are you?"

She sighed again, and the beast melted away to the soft and refined features he remembered. She doubled over, grabbing at the bleeding holes he'd put in her and staggered back. He did not go to her. He was more concerned with what she was than how she was.

"Are you Quileute? A lycanthrope?" He probed.

She shook her head. Jacob righted himself and stood up, suddenly demanding. A quiet concern came over him. "A _vampire?"_ He whispered, praying that he was wrong.

She sat down on the foot of his bed, apologetic expression, seemingly recovering from a pain far deeper than the one he inflicted.

"Just Yuri," she answered.

Jacob was not satisfied. "Just Yuri," he mocked, balling up his fists. "What are you?"

"Not exactly vampire, not exactly werewolf."

What was he hearing at all? He took a cautious step toward her, stopped short and folded his arms across his chest in hopes of subduing whatever she was capable of with intimidation.

"You'd better tell me everything."

"Right…" She agreed, trying to rise. He put a heavy hand on her shoulder and sat her back down. She could say what she had to say seated.

And what she had to say, sounded more fictional than fact, but then, so did his story. Yuri's journey into lycanthropy skipped a generation and didn't make itself evident until puberty, a truth she tried to hide from skeptical foster parents that dismissed her moon-laden nightmares as childish fantasy. Even-tempered, true shape shifting evaded her, or rather, _she_ evaded _it. _A terrible fate befell her when, one unaccompanied camping trip with friends found her in the clutches and jaws of a creature she previously did not believe existed: a vampire.

Lying in a tangled nest of bloodied hair, mouth opened in a silent scream and an uncontrollable pain raging through her, the sudden waif found herself on a journey out of one body and into the next. It wasn't long before food was tasteless, and every stranger's first and last name came to her in an unexplainable flash. People gravitated to her like a moth to the flame, only to perish in an act that both disgusted and satisfied her. Blood was a dietary map, she explained, where she could taste everything anyone had ever eaten in his or her entire life. It is ambrosial nectar too tempting to resist.

Yuri was seventeen for eight years before suspicions rose. A quest for answers floated her about from state to state like a ghost, but it was not until she made it to Forks that she found herself growing roots for two reasons she was not ready to disclose. Could she be Quileute, inherited lycanthrope? Maybe. A vampire? Almost certainly.

Jacob was still slightly apathetic when she had finished rambling.

"So are you a vampire or a werewolf?"

"I told you, neither."

"Can you shape- shift?"

She blinked tiredly and shook her head no. "I've never been able to do it. Feels like my bones are being ripped apart at the joints. What you saw was the extent of it."

"Uh huh." Jacob returned, arms still crossed. "I'm going to ask you this once, and once _only_. Did you hurt anyone here in Forks?"

She lowered her eyes and answered truthfully. "No." Not yet.

Jacob shook his head sadly. "I don't understand what part of you is werewolf at all."

She attempted to stand again, this time successfully, and made her way toward a full-length mirror he had behind the door. Her first encounter with someone _almost _like her and now she had been scarred for life. If only she had inherited their impenetrable skin.

"The part of me that hates vampires for what I've become. The part of me that's immune to their talents. That part of me that still sees value in human life, even when I'm taking it."

Jacob's features softened. He hated her. He lusted her. He looked up at her, eyes alight with desire whilst his heart burned in distaste, existing in conflict just like Yuri, an internal dispute he couldn't seem to settle. He reached out a hand to touch hers, blood dripping from little rivets off of her fingertips. He had inflicted the wound, and he was sorry. Curiosity compelled the next question.

"…Am I attracted to you because you will it?"

Yuri pulled back her hand before they made contact. "Yes."

Jacob felt a pang of betrayal at the fact that he didn't come to her of his own accord. He had been lured in by a surreal charm he couldn't counter.

"Turn it off," he ordered. "Stop doing it."

"I can't turn it off anymore than you can turn off being a werewolf." She seemed remorseful.

Jacob lowered his head, staring off at a spot between his feet. His head hurt.

"It's the same force that keeps me here. As much as I hold such disdain for what he is…I'm afraid _love_ Edward Cullen."


	5. Bella, Bella, Bella

"Edward Cullen…" Jacob echoed. The very mention of his name was enough to stir up enough disdain to elicit a change in him he did not wish to revisit so soon.

"You're…_in love_ with Edward Cullen." His voice was riddled with disbelief.

Yuri did not answer him. In her silence she was preserving her heart. It was little business of his to know that her attraction to Edward was instinctual and gravitational; a feeling she wished did not exist.

"You know Bella is involved with Edward, right?" He announced more so than asked, as if this revelation mattered.

"Oh. Bella." She replied unenthusiastically, turning toward the door. Jacob sprang up and gripped her arm to stop her.

"Why did you tell me this? I mean, I don't understand what it is exactly I can do for you. Besides give you a head start." He gestured with his head out the window.

She turned around to face him, the pleading look she had seemed to master artfully painted on her face again. She shrugged with some difficulty.

"Your protection."

"My protection? From _what?_ Yuri, if you're going to get involved with anything Cullen, I don't want to be involved. There are rules in place that extend far beyond me."

Yuri seemed satisfied nonetheless. She nodded understanding. "Then don't get involved."

Jacob wasn't expecting her to be so blasé about it. But he also never expected her to be anything other than human, or in love with Edward Cullen and certainly he had not expected to be so smitten with her, supernaturally invoked or not. He tried again.

"I don't want you to get hurt either…"

She touched the hand that held onto her arm gingerly, a touch that seemed strangely human despite what he had learned, a connection that went beyond their differences, but a touch meant only to comfort and dissuade.

"I will keep your secrets as readily as you keep mine." She turned to the door a second time to let herself out, ignoring Jacob's pleading calls to her. He meant well. She was not so sure about herself.

"Edward will choose Bella every time. Don't even bother." He didn't understand why he sounded like he was defending a relationship he wished didn't exist.

With that she paused, turned to look at him over her shoulder with her cutting dark eyes, a slightly amused smirk on her face, as if accepting a challenge he had unwittingly thrown at her.

"There is no Bella." She returned softly from halfway between his room and hallway.

Jacob swung open the door to confirm what he hoped he hadn't heard, the question barely out of his mouth, "What do you m—?" when he realize that he was, very literally and symbolically, alone.

"Edward…are you sure its okay for me to come over?" Bella had asked this as she was already heading up the walk from the driveway, fingers intertwined with Edward because she could not segregate herself from his person when they were together. Through the course of an evening together she would slowly consume him. Tonight was the first time in a while since she'd visited the Cullens, always overly enthusiastic to see her, eerily accommodating and respectfully distant. She was, after all, a lamb.

"Of course."

Jasper's feverish infatuation with blood had been remedied by Carlisle's access to the hospital's blood bank. Bella would be more than safe. While she was flattered to be accepted by such a diversified brood of self-controlled vampires, tonight, with Jacob's apathy replaying in the back of her mind, she was especially remote. She was going through motions just as certainly as the Cullens did, sitting about a formal dinner table setting having side conversations as she alone ate. The only honest peace she found was in Edward.

The Cullen Coven was a handsome blend of seasoned sophisticates. They always seemed so calm, so composed in an ethereal sort of way that made her wonder if she would loose so much of the earthly tethers with time if and when Edward finally decided to cross her over. She wound her fork over and over in her angel hair pasta, mind adrift, unwittingly being watched with varying expressions of anticipation by her hosts. It was as if they knew something she didn't. She finally glanced up and them and grinned self-consciously.

"What?"

She felt Edward's cool hand atop hers, steadying her fidgeting. When she glanced up at him he kissed her atop her head and carted the plate away with his other hand.

"Meet me in the veranda?" He offered, already pulling out her chair for her. She excused herself from the table after Carlisle and Esme gave her a permissible nod. When she was out of the dining room, Alice smiled up at Edward and gave him thumbs up.

"Good luck," she said.

Edward wrinkled his brows. It was a little out of place for someone with Alice's talents to say 'good luck' when she would know before anyone else what the outcome of the situation would be.

"What do you mean? You already know what will happen."

She shrugged her shoulders, seemingly confused, as if she just realized she had experienced some sort of psychic hiccup.

"I don't know…I kinda lost sight of the outcome…"

Edward felt his confidence flicker. "Werewolf?" He asked, rising a brow of concern.

Alice, still visibly confused, sat with a wound-up expression, as if trying to unravel the sudden congestion in her mind. She shook her head slowly.

"…Something else…"

Edward parted his lips to speak when Alice brightened considerably, giving him the thumbs up again. If she weren't worried, he wouldn't be either.

"Good luck!" She repeated.

He dropped the issue, nodding his thank you. "Right."

Bella was leaning over the balcony railing, the wind sweeping her hair back from her face with each gentle caress of its passing, her hands sucked into her sweater sleeves as far as they would go, gazing out into the wood beyond. There was something about Bella that always made her seem so childishly innocent, even at eighteen, her attitude and naivety served as a fountain of youth she would never appreciate, and Edward would surely miss when she no longer needed to rely on _that_ to keep her youthful.

He joined her in silence, creeping up slowly behind her with his hands behind his back, admiring her from proximity as he neared, to him, she was all the more beautiful in her natural state. It was not until Carlisle began to play _Clair de Lune _on a Baby Grand, a familiar tune that joined them on cue, sweetly and flawlessly enveloping them just as surely as the dusk—a concept that could only be monitored by the clock because in Forks, all day was dusk—that she turned around to face her visitor. She welcomed him with admiring eyes, a smile she failed to hide, and a suspicion that arose when he did not encircle her with his arms as he so often did.

"What's behind your back?"

He stopped short in front of her and barely raised the edges of his lips to smile. "Do you remember this song?" He asked, evading her question. She darted her eyes up from his waist to his eyes.

"You played it for me a long time ago…"

He nodded. She walked into him and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her ear against his chest for a heartbeat that did not exist. The eerie absence of sound was not a deterrent. He kissed the top of her head again.

"Your hair smells like Jasmine," he observed.

She mashed her eyes shut, the precursor to a game she liked to play with him in instances where she felt particularly romantic. She would close her eyes and have him paint a picture of the scenery for her through heightened senses she envied.

"What else do you smell?"

Edward shifted his arms around her, hoping she wouldn't feel his one hand closed up around what he had come to present.

"I can smell the seedlings that Esme planted preparing to sprout, just as fragrant as if they were in bloom, mingling with—" he paused a moment to take in a deep breath, "wood burning."

It was not uncommon to smell wood burning in Forks, a pungent and unmistakable smell that managed to escape her nonetheless. It was probably burning miles away and down wind.

"I wish I could smell it," she admitted.

"You will, one day," he assured.

She looked up into his brilliant eyes, as amber as the setting sun. "But you have _conditions._" She mocked, remembering a conversation they had had from before.

"Yes." He ran his fingers over the smooth velvet of the box clasped in his hands, drowning in the deep brown pools of her eyes. He leaned in to meet her lips when he whipped his head up quickly, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. He crinkled his nose in disgust.

"I also smell a dog," he hissed.

No sooner than he had said it than a commotion erupted just seconds after in the foyer; Emmett was yelling incomprehensibly at someone at the door, which tore Carlisle away from the piano in a wink. Edward was out of her arms before she even realized he'd left her. She ran back into the house and toward the foyer where everyone was now gathered, Jasper in the rear, eyes alight with rage, Carlisle and Esme of course trying to be the voice of reason amongst the chaos.

"What the hell are you doing here? You're not welcomed!" Emmett spat, trying to tear out of Edward's vise grip.

Bella dared to near the fang- bared fray but when a familiar voice returned to Emmett with as much hostile enthusiasm –she knew it to be none other than Jacob.

"Jake!" She shouted, running unabashed through the crowd. She touched Emmett's arm gently and moved in front, not hiding her displeasure to see Jacob standing in front of the Cullen's door.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, noting how he appeared, chest heaving and bare, hair wet with dew and nostrils flaring wildly in a suppressed rage.

"You're breaking the treaty, _dog_!" Emmett spat. "I'll kill you where you stand!"

Jacob was not backing down. A quiet storm was brewing but he didn't come to start a war. He came to warn.

Carlisle placed a palm squarely on Emmett's chest, shooting a pleading look to Jasper who nodded in understanding and almost immediately, a clam settled like a mist upon them.

"Obviously, he wouldn't have come alone if he was looking to start a fight," Carlisle reasoned, making no offer to let Jacob into the house. Even if he had offered, Jacob would have kept his distance on the porch outside.

"What's so important that you have to break treaty lines?" Edward asked, voice cutting. He glared at Jacob, waiting. Jacob fixed his eyes on Bella to stay cool.

"I came to warn _you_, Bella."

Bella, stunned, took a small step toward him only to feel Edward's hand wrap firmly around her arm. She tried to shrug out of his hold but it was no use.

"_Warn me_?"

Jacob hesitated. Yes, he had come to warn her. But about what? Could he tell her what he'd learned about Yuri and make an assumption that Bella was in danger based on her parting statements four hours ago? He didn't so much as find a trace of her in the woods when he went looking. It was as if she barely existed.

"Bella…You're not safe…I just have a feeling…" He babbled.

Edward took offense immediately. "You're the one who isn't safe. I would _never _hurt her."

"I didn't mean you!" He barked, although if circumstances were different, he would have meant Edward. And the rest of the Cullens.

"I'm more than capable of handling things on my own, thanks," Edward said bitterly.

"Yeah, get off our property, Fido," Emmett taunted.

That disrupted the false calm in an instant, and a terrible screaming match between the two and Edward ignited with Bella in the middle of the Cullens and Jacob trying to be heard amongst the riot. Her head was throbbing suddenly. Jacob was barely speaking anymore. He was growling.

Fed up, she marched past Jacob, making sure to ram into his shoulder as she went and started down their long drive for an even longer walk home.

"Just don't even try and follow me!" She warned, directing that at both Jacob and Edward. Edward, desperate to mend things, although the evening had been irreparably ruined, turned to Alice for closure. She knew what his silent plea meant.

"She gets home safely," she reassured.

Carlisle nodded, satisfied. "You'd better go," he warned Jacob, who turned and trotted after Bella much to Edward's chagrin. He caught up to her and grabbed her arm to turn her to face him.

"Go home, Jake," she said icily when he'd touched her. Jacob froze, discarded, deserving but not understandably so, and watched her figure turn into a blurry dot as she got further out of sight. When he was convinced that she did not want his company, he turned toward the surrounding forest and made haste for Quileute territory.


	6. My Saviour Divine

Yuri slid in through the ajar second story window with ease and found herself inundated with a scent she had come to love and loathe: Bella Swan. Her smell saturated the room—especially potent was her bed, hamper and closet. It was enough to induce salivation. If she did nothing else in Forks besides satisfy her urge to drink Bella Swan, it would be worth the death by the hands of Edward Cullen (a creature she was rapidly growing roots in Forks for) who would surely murder her.

What did she care? If living in a fixture between humanity, werewolf and vampire had not driven her completely mad—and she was not sure she wasn't—death would be rewarding. What sense was it to possess the gifts of both with the fragile frame of a human? While she could crush bones to dust with little effort, if she warred with an equal opposing force she would carry the scars forever. At present, she was carrying at least ten from Jacob.

She moved from the window and made her way around the bed frame to the bedroom door to push it in when she caught a glimpse of Bella's computer desk, littered with school related paraphernalia and a photo album. Out of boredom and not interest, she scooped it up and sat down casually on the edge of the bed to leaf through it. In it there were pictures of Jacob Black, Edward Cullen, a few familiar faces from Forks High and of course, of family Yuri never had.

She frowned at the smiling faces staring blankly at her from the picture. She had been about Bella's age when things took a turn for the worse. Yuri had been Bella once, a life ago, forever a waif, a situation that never changed, but she had been contented. Somewhat popular. Always attractive, albeit odd, but full of life and anxious for the experiences that awaited her. She'd dreamed of tracing her roots, finding love, living a normal life until one unexpected day she'd lost it all. She slapped the album shut.

No matter. She hadn't any intention of changing Bella Swan. She glanced around the room until her eyes met the headboard where an attractive dream catcher was strung around the round pillar, the feathered edges caressing the pillow beneath it. Instantly, her mind went to Jacob. She felt her arms throbbing through her bloodied jacket.

As much as she felt her humanity slipping away daily, there was something very grounding about Jacob Black. He was the type of boy she could have gotten lost in very easily if she hadn't been _possessed_ by a vampire, if she had been very literally eight years younger and not annoyingly in lust with Edward Cullen. If only she could be like—

Bella.

If she killed Bella, Edward would surely kill her. But a worse thought—that Jacob would _hate _her, was serving as a mild deterrent. She toyed with the idea of abandoning her desire to drink Bella. She was very hungry, yes, and vegetarianism was beyond her but…

There it was. The life in turmoil. The same gravity that drew her to Edward drew her to Bella. But for different reasons. And then there was the issue of a humanity barely remembered hovering over her every time she was hungry. She closed her eyes and sighed, trying to calm her mind.

"Oh God," she muttered. "I was human once." Which is why it was difficult to do what she did next; she got up, carefully placed the photo album back in its corner atop the desk and slipped out the window like a shadow. It was foolish to get acquainted with food and even more so, with Jacob.

Bella had left a trail of steam behind her when she'd left the Cullen's property forty-five minutes ago, and with the pace she was going she thought she should have made more progress than she had. Now, she was a little less angry and a lot more foolish, hiking alone on the ridiculously long trip back to her home. A car was approaching and she turned hopefully expecting Edward to disrespect her desire to be alone and rescue her from the fate she brought upon herself, but when it passed her hopes were dashed. She pulled her hood over her head to shield herself from the lightly misting rain that decided to accompany her on her walk home. It would have been nice to have Jacob's arm to shelter her about now. But she'd ran him off too.

Now that she was sober, Jacob's vague warning was replaying in her mind like a broken record. Warn her? About what? Why did he risk everything to cross treaty lines? What was suddenly so compelling that he forgot how much he hated her for standing him up and come to the Cullen Residence? He couldn't even say their name without gagging. Thank God for Carlisle. Emmett would have been quite the match for Jacob, but Jacob wouldn't have been a match for all of them. She sighed, puffing out her cheeks as she did so and began to hate herself for the tensions she created. Things could have been way worse. She was a lightening rod for misfortune, after all. It was getting darker by the minute, the road home was a long one, and she was by choice, alone.

When Bella had less than a mile to go, per chance a vagrant, still afar off, on the opposite side of the road heading in the other direction and moving quite gracefully, as if their feet never touched the ground, was coming into view and looking very familiar. By now the sun had long since set but the glare of a full moon hung overhead like a lamp and lit up the area as such. Bella squinted her eyes at the figure and stopped walking, certain that she was looking at Yuri, with her Ebony hair and reddish complexion, still very attractive from that distance. She just seemed to show up with no rhyme or reason to being where she was, especially now, at this hour, alone as usual, and coming from Bella's neck of the woods. Yuri stopped abruptly as well, hesitating, and started back up with a faster pace than before. Bella frowned. What better opportunity to apologize than now, even if it was evident that she was trying to dart past her unnoticed. A move Bella falsely interpreted as a reaction to how she had treated her from before. She mustered up enough pluck to start over to her.

"Hey, Yuri, wait."

Yuri hoped her grimace went unnoticed. If she had any sense at all she would have disappeared like a breeze, leaving Bella to do a double take and question weather or not she had been there at all. But it was too late to dash away now that she was jogging toward her, downwind, and her intoxicating scent met her way before Bella did. Yuri felt her hands tremor and her eyes flick in a feverish want, but she swallowed hard and sucked in a deep breath to keep her yearning settled. If she didn't breathe, she couldn't smell her.

Bella stopped short in front of her, took brief notice to the way she seemed curiously beautiful tonight—there was a quality to her that reminded her of the awe-like admiration she had for all things Cullen—but shook her head clear of her sudden reverence. She needed all her focus to battle through an awkward and difficult apology she wished she didn't have to be making. She ferried her eyes from her.

"Look, I just wanted to apologize for how I treated you earlier. I was in a bad mood and I know that doesn't excuse how I acted —or whatever—but it's just that Jacob means a lot to me…Even if I don't always treat him like I should."

Yuri nodded, also refusing eye contact, wondering how long this apology she didn't give a damn about either way would take. She accepted it wordlessly for civility sake, but Bella was pushing it.

"Could we just start over? Like this whole thing never happened?"

A question. A question that kept Bella's slightly pleading stare attached to her in wait of a response. A response that required her to take a breath. Maybe she could restrain herself. Yuri breathed out slowly and evenly, took in a shallow breath, felt her fingernails dinging into the flesh of her own hand and her steadily growing teeth pointing into icicles and tearing her own gums.

Maybe she couldn't. She didn't even finish drawing in her breath.

Bella noticed the look of restrained pain in her features and furrowed her brows with some concern.

"Are you—?"

"Bella, you should run." Yuri warned, cutting her off. She knew she would catch her regardless.

Bella saw a change for the worse in Yuri that she had seen brewing in Jacob, and skimming just beneath the surface in Edward on occasion. It was uncanny, surrealistic, and dangerous. She did an abrupt turnaround and tried to run for it but she had barely gone two steps when she felt a steely pair of hands gripping her shoulders. Her lips parted to scream, a reaction silenced by the brisk scraping of two incisors against her throat. She had barely tensed when a gust went by her, and a voice whispered softly into her ear,

"Sorry I took so long."

It was Edward's apology. He swept her up into his arms, planting an apologetic kiss softly against her neck where Yuri had grazed her.

Bella was flabbergasted, her expression frozen to her face, bewildered. Edward read her expression easily.

"Four seconds ago, Alice told me she was wrong."

Which explained very little. The next thing she knew the misty rain was stinging against her cheeks as they moved swiftly and silently through wood, gnashing sounds of teeth around her. What was happening?

Edward stopped, placing her between the arms of a high up tree branch. "Stay safe," he commanded, although he had little worry she would be anything _but. _When he left her she gripped the mossy branches under her to steady herself, unbelievably disarrayed. Shadows whisked below her, voices, unclear carried in the wind. Misty rain stung her eyes and made her grip loose.

"Edward!" She cried pitifully, slipping against the foliage.

"Bella…"

She recognized Jacob's concerned voice at once. He placed his hands tenderly against the bark, craning his neck to look up at her. He could see her, visibly shaken, tears snaking down her confused face as clearly as day; she could only take comfort in his voice and an outline.

"Jake!"

"I was never far from you," he reassured.

She trembled. "I want to get down…"

"Not yet." With that, he pushed off from the tree and made off into the wood possibly after Edward, possibly chasing the same shadows she only caught glimpses of.

"Jake! Come back!" She pleaded. But he was gone.

Fearful but determined, she braced herself for the impact and dropped down from the tree like a rock, plummeting into the mossy foliage below in a crumpled heap. Stunned, but alive.

Jacob was moving through the trees like he had memorized every blade of grass, every sprouting sapling, pushing himself in his human form though he did not have far to go. Emmett and Edward were hot after Yuri, two of the four Cullen men forming a steadily closing semi-circle on the fleeing Yuri, finding sense again after losing a battle against temptation and suffering a staggering blind-sided attack from Edward just as she was so surely going to join her teeth with Bella's supple neck.

Jacob streaked in like an arrow and ripped Yuri from the closing fist of Jasper Cullen who couldn't suppress his growl of frustration. Jacob and Yuri tumbled like weeds before Jacob quickly righted himself and stood daringly to face the quartet of vengeful vampires, all hissing in a rage to take their fallen adversary. Jacob was about to war against four vampires for the abomination at his feet, outside the restrictions of La Push and only for precisely one-third of her. The human third.

"Back off, dog," Jasper warned, seeking retribution for his stolen opportunity.

Jacob glowered, trying to buy himself time. He could hear his comrades howling to him in the distance.

Amidst his violent focus, Emmett wrenched his nose in disgust. "A werewolf?" He wondered aloud, glaring down at Yuri, on her back now, her body a morphing tempest between human, vampire, and werewolf. Her thirst had since subsided and her vampyric qualities retreated, becoming more human again.

Sam appeared next to Jacob, rising into the form of a man when he neared the face-off, hands up in surrender, a contrast to the rest of his pack who were ready to defend.

"Peace." He begged, trying to excuse the valiance of Jacob outside of their territory. He was pleading to Carlisle, who was also ready to make amends.

Carlisle loosened up, a nonverbal acceptance to Sam's offer. "Is your pack selectively defending vampires now?"

"Vampires?" Sam repeated, voice rising in question. He looked to Jacob, still preoccupied with staring down the remaining Cullens with his brothers at his heels, snarling, snapping, teetering on the edge of control and unmanageable rage. All they needed was a reason to act.

"Let me take her," Jacob hissed through clenched teeth. His hands were fists sat his sides, his words offered no explanation—not to the bloody vampires, not to even to his myrmidon brethren.

Edward flared up in an outrage unfamiliar to his own family. His composed resolve melted away in a flash.

"You would overlook Bella's safety for your own selfish reasons?" He spat, taking a bold step toward Jacob. He felt the tug of Carlisle's grip holding him back.

Sam placed his own hand flat against Jacob's chest to restrain him.

To Carlisle, he said, "Your family is breaking the treaty. You said your kind would never harm a human."

"Not human," Jasper corrected.

"Something else," Edward vaguely informed. Sam looked perplexed.

A pained gasp came from Yuri as she sat up, catching several quick glances in her direction that made it obvious that she could not steal away from either party. A short rumbling growl was directed to her from one of the wolves.

Emmett, bellicose and fuelled by the promise of confrontation, found it difficult to be reasoned with. He had been enveloped in the trying eyes of one of the pack, in a silent lock-down in the vacant yellow eyes of the wolf that he could only interpret as malicious and daring, eager to engage his wrath. He sprang forward in a flash that could only be seen by those present, met the very prepared maw of two, suddenly becoming a catalyst for Jacob and Sam to change.

Sam's transformation was in a mist, out of the man a large, black puff of fur camouflaged into the night and only his indiscriminate teeth and flashing eyes could be seen tearing into the diamond-hard flesh of his attackers. Jacob erupted into a snarling and ferocious beast, ripping through his human mask in a scene as horrific as a car accident and yet, as guiltily fascinating. Then, piercing clearly through the brutal ambiance— was a shrill, pleading cry.

"Stop!"

It was Bella. Frantic, tattered, desperate, holding onto the nearest tree for support, her body devoid of voice. It took everything left in her to scream. She was immediately hoarse. Edward was at her side in a flash, gently taking her elbows to hold her up, his icy touch a comfort despite the weather. She buried her face in his chest, only able to slip her fingers into the shreds of his clothing, to find, much to her surprise and terror, moisture. Edward bled. In the pales of the moon, she could see the dark liquid rolling off of her own fingers, her mouth open in silent shock, her brows furrowed in discovery and concern. Naturally, her eyes went to Jacob, whichever wolf shape he was, respecting the desperation in her command, still poised with a paw lingering to strike the spot where Edward had been. And from Jacob to Yuri, who willfully locked eyes with her, seemingly apologetic. It was difficult to see the remorse in a pair of steely, otherworldly eyes burning into her from across the battlefield. Bella trembled, remembering her close encounter, blinked, and Yuri was gone.


	7. Rewind the Tape

Dawn, bleak and drab as usual, met Bella Swan awake. She had not slept much if at all the night before. Jumping out of that tree sent adrenaline coursing through her most of the night, only to abruptly depart this morning when she tried to sit up without a strain. Her lower back had the articulation of rusty gears, and her legs felt like jell-o.

"Ugh."

"Good morning." Edward's monotonous voice greeted as he materialized out from the corner of her room, drawing toward her with motionless ease. She jolted upright, forgetting her ailments and reached out toward him. He went into her arms and she began to frantically push away his clothing from his rigid frame, eyes wide and racing across his forearms and chest for injury.

Perplexed, "What? How could you be okay?"

Edward handed her back her arms and fixed himself.

"I _saw_ you bleeding last night, I had your blood all over me."

Edward gave her a gentle smile and nodded to the raw patches of flesh on her own arms. She gaped at them as if they had magically appeared.

"You had your own blood on you. I told you to stay put."

She settled back into her pillows slowly, trying to recall the night before. Everything had happened in fast forward. She didn't even remember coming home and getting into bed. She did remember standing just a hair's distance from the blurring tempest raging between Jacob and his pack and Edward and his coven, her heart beating like a drum inside her chest, and finding the courage to speak—rather—to scream for them to stop. Her voice was still hoarse.

She cleared her throat, then remembering Yuri, wild with passion, telling her to run and then—and then—everything. One moment superimposed onto another.

Damn. Yuri was a _vampire._ She rubbed her neck thoughtlessly. Her eyes popped open in realization before shooting Edward an accusing look.

"You knew!"

Edward nodded slowly, ferrying his eyes away from hers. "I did."

"Why didn't you tell me? You _lied_ to me! You told me she was only human."

Edward tried to find a stipulation in his then response. "Not exactly…I kept getting the sensation that she was, even though I couldn't read her mind…but then I caught wind of her. She stunk."

Bella's face morphed through a series of expressions. "Werewolf?" She rasped. Edward could tell she didn't understand it any more than any of them had last night.

"Don't try to make sense of it. Werewolf to us, vampire to _them_, human to you. Which is why I had such difficulties getting into her mind. It was like three existences all thinking at once. It was unintelligible, I couldn't even catch a _word_."

His explanation had derailed Bella from her disappointment in him, for the moment trying to fix this situational Rubix cube. When she gave up, her eyes became icicles again.

"If you had told me then you wouldn't have had to be brawling with Jacob last night. I _hated_ that." She shuddered at the thought. "Did you really have to fight them?"

"I did."

"You didn't. Yuri was the one who came after me, not Jacob or anyone else in his pack."

Edward sighed. "I did." He insisted. "Things got complicated after Emmett struck first. But if he hadn't, I might have."

"Why?"

"To protect you. It wasn't about Jacob until we realize he was trying to protect _Yuri._"

At that, Bella shot up again._ "What?_ Did he know?"

Edward nodded.

Bella felt the room orbit. Maybe it was just her head. Jacob tried to protect Yuri from Edward after she had tried to kill her? What sense did that make if just barely an hour before he had risked everything to come to the Cullen's door to warn her?

"You lie." She whispered, eyes fighting tears. "Jacob would have told me."

Edward seemed taken aback. He could hardly believe she was sticking up for him after he had risked starting world war three for her. After Carlisle and Jasper and Emmett had involved themselves to protect her. After Jacob had suddenly turned cold and discarded her when Yuri sauntered into town. He felt his shoulders drop and subsequently, his weight amplify over the little velvet box that was being crushed between he and the bed.

"Your words cut me…" He admitted.

Bella was immediately remorseful. The way he had said it felt as if he had dumped a truckload of emotion into the statement. She probably came across ungrateful, thoughtless, Bella. _So_ Bella.

"I'm sorry," she sulked, wrapping her arms around his neck. He encircled her in his arms and rubbed her back comfortingly. He would have rather been the one being comforted, but remorse hung to every syllable of her apology. Still, her defensiveness toward Jacob made it painfully clear that her ties to him were stronger than he would have liked. The velvet box under his weight made him wonder if his devotion may be one- sided.

She clung to him like Velcro, her tears wetting his neck silently. No, it wasn't one-sided. But it was too soon.

He pulled away first and kissed her softly. "Go to him. If you must." The next instant he was by her window, ashen skin blending with the grays of outside.

"I'll be near."

Then Bella was alone.

Yuri stood at the edge of the cliff-side, watching the waters crash abruptly into the rocks and retreat, swelling and charging again. A storm was brewing out in the sea. An ugly morning after an ugly night. Behind her, the heavy panting of a large beast and thudding paws neared her until they softened to feet over crunching rocks, and a feverish hand wrapped around her arm.

"Hello, Jacob Black," she greeted. His touch was gentle, though it should not have been.

"I've been looking for you." His voice was tired. "What are you doing here?"

She looked down at the waves again, smashing violently below. "Contemplating jumping."

"You won't die," he reminded.

"I died a long time ago." When she glanced over her shoulder at him, there was shame in her face. "Sorry about your friend, Bella."

Jacob dropped his hand when she turned to face him finally, human again, delicate, beautiful, ashamed.

He felt his tension lift from him and carry off in the wind. Looking at her was like sighing.

"I hate you. I wanted to kill you just as badly as _them_ for trying to hurt her." He made his hands into angry claws, mimicking strangling.

Yuri's eyes widened a bit, but she said nothing. Jacob dropped his arms to his side. He met her eyes hopefully.

"But you couldn't help it, could you?"

Again, she did not respond.

Jacob had to force the next few words out of his mouth. "You could…try to learn from _them_…then maybe you could deal with what you are a little better."

She was shaking her head before he'd even finished his sentence. It would be best if she was as far away from Forks as possible. Despite everything, she had no desire to be a practiced vegetarian like the Cullens. She would willfully indulge when the want took her, despite how she felt about what she did.

"I'd quicker leave here to escape your disapproval."

Jacob perked a brow. "Oh? What about _Edward_?" The name slopped out of his mouth like sludge. "I thought you were _in love_ with him?" Though he was mocking, he was bursting with jealously. Of the two women he coveted, both wanted that pale-faced Cullen boy, although Yuri's situation seemed to make a bit more sense than Bella's.

Yuri's face was sour. "I'm not about to further complicate things by encouraging a love triangle." She looked at Jacob. "Square," she corrected, deciding to include him.

"Besides," she continued. "My attraction to Edward is illogical. It just _is._"

There was no way she could compete with Bella. She had seen that last night in the way he moved in for her, the desperate tackle that launched her into the wood and very nearly crushed her like a paper cup. Edward could not love her, or anything else for that matter.

"I kind of want you to stay," Jacob admitted in a trance, eyes unblinking, mesmerized.

Yuri was flattered despite knowing what influenced his statement. "That's because you can't help it," she reminded, patting his cheek gently to force him to refocus. He took hold of her hand and held it there, savoring the interaction from her that she always shied away from. It was a miracle she did not wither her hand away from him.

"I know I'm drawn to you because you can't help it, or I can't, whatever. But I do know when I'm genuinely attracted to a persons' character. You can draw me in, but you can't keep me there. I chose to stay."

Yuri took her hand back, but it was difficult. She felt her throat closing. It was hard enough to swallow, let alone speak. "You can see _me?"_ She marveled.

Jacob nodded. "Just you. Not the werewolf, not the vampire. Yuri."

In another life, where it was possible, Yuri would be crying. She could feel the build up of emotion swell in her, choking her, making her breathing erratic, but it would go no further than that. It had been eight years since she had been able to, and wanted to. For a few moments that seemed like an eternity, she did not speak. When she had composed herself enough, she met his eyes.

"Thank you, Jacob." She said in a sigh. "Bella is very fortunate to have you."

Jacob took a step toward her, reaching out a hand to brush away the tears that did not exist when a gentle gust of wind blew through his fingers, and Yuri would exist in Forks only as a memory hereafter.

"Hey, Jacob."

His response was hesitant, almost weary. "Hey."

"I'm sorry. Could I come see you?"

His reply was lively, as if he'd been waiting by the phone all day hoping to hear her ask. "Of course."

That was before Bella had driven all the way to La Push in her beat-up pick-up truck with her wipers doing more harm than good by spreading murky water around the windshield. It was a miracle she'd made it there alive. Now they sat with the distance of strangers between them on the old oak stump just in front of the barn, darting their eyes about the dew covered grass for a conversation starter. Bella was chewing her bottom lip to shreds and Jacob was only there in body. She had hoped she could count on his sweet wit and humor to jump start a conversation but it looked like she have to be the talkative one today.

"Jake, I'm really sorry I stood you up. If I had just gotten my crap together maybe none of this would have happened."

Jacob set his eyes on her. "What do you mean?"

Bella shrugged. "I don't appreciate you. I mean I _do, _I just don't behave like I do. If I had just met you at the theatre like I was supposed to then maybe you wouldn't have been hanging out with Yuri." She cringed trying to deliver the next sentence. "Then maybe you wouldn't have felt obligated to protect her…" Her voice trailed off near the end.

Jacob sat up straight, brows knitted, frowning. "Edward blabbed, huh?"

She nodded solemnly.

"I guess it makes me look really bad, huh?"

Bella shrugged again. "A little. I guess."

Both of them sighed together. "Are—were you jealous?" He asked hopefully, knocking his elbow into her, eyes alight. Bella struggled to stifle a smile.

Jacob became serious again. "It wasn't like that…I don't want to make you feel like I was sticking up for her instead of you, or that I was condoning what she did but…she isn't like that. What attacked you last night wasn't Yuri."

Bella shuddered and ran her hands up and down her arms in the cool breeze. Jacob didn't flinch.

"What was it then? It was like having the flesh representative of my worse nightmares breathing down my neck." Her hands were massaging her throat unconsciously for the umpteenth time that day.

"How come you don't feel that way about your vampires, then?"

Bella didn't pick up on the defensive edge to his question.

"They're not like that."

"Neither is she," he spat, turning away from her.

Now it was obvious. Bella leaned forward to look into his face, catching a glimpse of that defensive nature in his eyes. She scooted closer to him.

"Sorry, Jake. I didn't mean to come here to fight with you."

Jacob softened up considerably at her apology. "It's okay," he grumbled, sliding closer to her. They were now joined at the hips, arms straightened out behind them, crossing into one another casually to prop themselves.

"I miss you a lot, Bella. We used to be so much closer before—"

"Yah," she interrupted, not needing to hear him speak of Edward's return because it reminded her of his leaving. Those thoughts came together as a packaged deal. "I miss you too, Jake."

He nodded absently. Sucked in a deep breath, daring to ask her the next question. "Yuri said you were lucky to have me."

Incredulous, "She did?"

Jacob nodded again. "Do you feel that way?"

Yes. Yes, absolutely she did. Lucky, blessed, fortunate—whatever you wanted to call it, Bella was it. It was a shame it took Yuri's siren-like charm to lead Jacob astray for her to realize that. She had taken advantage of Jacob, ignored his feelings, and skipped the maintenance needed to keep their very peculiar friendship afloat.

She leaned her head toward him and allowed their heads to knock together playfully, although she did not pull away when he decided to keep his there, near hers. It was almost as if he needed the reassurance.

"Yes. I do." She snuggled in closer, feeling his muscular arm drape over her shoulders. They turned toward one another, noses grazing softly, lips but a pucker away, but neither of them made the attempt to join them. Everything Bella belonged to Edward Cullen, and while everything Jacob belonged to Bella, he could only offer her the friendship she wanted, feeling at long last at the very least appreciated, knowing that her flicker of jealously meant somehow, somewhere, a piece of Bella Swan belonged to Jacob Black.


End file.
